More dirt: cyclists on CO Route 3, a 17-mile stretch of dirt and gravel off of Ute Pass.

So I was washing off after today’s 96-mile ride from Leadville to Granby, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much dirt running down the drain. After two days of riding in the stuff, I feel like it’s embedded itself in everything. My bike is covered in it, I’m covered in it, everything I touch ends up dirty. I feel like Pigpen from “Peanuts,” walking around in my own ever-present cloud of dirt. And after today’s ride, I also got to dig a little gravel out of my gear. The 17-mile stretch of “hardpack dirt road” was actually more gravel and sand than dirt, and much like Tuesday’s dirt stretch near Independence Pass, people either love it or loathe it. I’m thinking there were more loathes than loves today; support vehicles were again carting cyclists and bikes off the course all day, some riders so angry they could barely contain themselves. I heard some interesting words. I imagine that some of the organizers are getting their own earful today, but I guess they’re probably used to that. Cyclists aren’t always an easy bunch to reason with.

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A tandem navigates the gravel on CO 3.

But it’s been a tough course for many folks; one of the support vehicle drivers said that more people were taken off the course Tuesday than anytime in Ride The Rockies history. I have no way of checking those facts, but it certainly seemed busy today as well. If a challenge is what you were looking for in Ride The Rockies, then you’ve gotten a good one. And Thursday’s climb up Trail Ridge Road should keep the challenges coming.

Okay, I’ve been in Colorado before, so I wasn’t going to be surprised by the Rockies. But I was. First, it was the mountains. They have such power, such strength, such magic. They are simply majestic.

It is not just the mountains themselves, but their interaction with the rivers, the lakes and the sky. And they are different: each one a fingerprint of nature, each forming its own landscape.

But it isn’t just the mountains. The other night we camped in Carbondale and in the middle of the night I woke up to relieve myself. I hate that; crawling out of my nice warm sleeping bag trying to not wake everyone else as I stumble towards the bathrooms. But it’s a price of growing older.

After yesterday’s long day of climbing, today’s 94 miles and 4,000+ of elevation gain actually looked slightly mild on the map. I took my time rolling out of Leadville on Highway 91 towards the old mining town of Climax, and the first ascent of the day, Fremont Pass.

Though the pass rises to just over over 11,300 feet, the climb from the south is not incredibly challenging due to the elevation of Leadville (10,152 ft — highest incorporated city in the U.S.).

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Lucas with Vince Beggs of Alexandria, Virginia.

One aspect of Ride the Rockies I’ve come to genuinely appreciate is the friendships that can be formed in a short time. On my first night of the trip, I shared a table and O’Dells 90 Schilling with “Vince” from Alexandria, VA. Vince, like a lot of the riders on this journey, has a great story on why he got in to cycling and what made him choose Ride The Rockies as his big trip of 2012. We hit it off well and have ridden together the last few days. As I crossed the top of Fremont, I saw Vince again and we agreed to ride together for the remainder of day four.

The descent from Fremont Pass to Copper is typically fast, but since this side of Highway 91 is under construction, we were warned to take caution on the recently milled road. After reaching Copper, we headed northeast on the Ten Mile Recreational Pathway through Officer’s Gulch and into Frisco.

From Frisco we wrapped around Dillon Reservoir, which offered spectacular views, then north through Silverthorne and on to the final big climb of the day at Ute Pass.

The Ute Pass climb is 5.3 miles and averages around a 5% grade. The top of the pass, at mile 58, was again festive with food vendors, music, and an emcee offering prizes. The descent down the other side, now CO Road 3, was rough. Off in the distance we were treated to views of the Gore Range, which runs 60 miles through several Colorado counties.

After the descent, we reached a 15 mile section of hard packed dirt roads. We were prepped about this heading in to the trip, and I was quite looking forward to it. Riding the Rockies would not be complete without a section of back-roads riding.

The Rockies are a rough and challenging place, and I’d not want to have a tour of them without experiencing such a section of road. As a bonus, it also provided some of the best views of unadulterated open space the ride has crossed yet. No doubt this section of the day was challenging, but in my opinion, that is exactly what Ride the Rockies should be.

After the dirt road ended, Vince and I kept a solid pace heading toward Granby. We reached Granby with about 96 miles on our computers, so we decided to head out past the town some just to get to the century mark. Our first and only 100 mile day of the trip.

Now it’s time to wash the dirt off, down some grub at the festival, and toast a pint to another great day of riding in the Rocky Mountains.

I told you yesterday that this was going to be a testing day. It did not disappoint. We did pretty well finishing the 83+ miles in six hours, climbing 7572 feet, but I feel like I spent the day inside a cement truck.

Everything is sore: legs from the climbing, shoulders from the descending, arms from the rough roads and neck from all of it. We spent several miles on dirt/sandy trail (which some people opted to walk) and another several miles on stupidly bumpy road. The trail was admittedly fantastically beautiful running along a river that led us to Aspen.

As we came into town I asked a cyclist next to me “Where are we?” He laughed and looked at me like I was the village idiot. In the end, he never answered me. I asked another cyclist who did answer me and set me straight that we were in the special, rarefied air that is Aspen. Nice town. I wonder what a house costs?

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Toward Independence Pass and toward a little personal torture.

From Aspen it was up, and up, and up; ultimately, to Independence Pass at 12,095 feet. Wow, does the air get thin above 10,000. The only thing you can do is pedal as fast and hard as your lungs and heart will let you. I did fine and generally felt good all the way to the top, but there is no avoiding falling into a little puddle of misery.

I live in Eagle, Colorado with my husband and 5 year old daughter. I enjoy the mountain lifestyle and love riding both road and mountain bikes. I ride on an women’s amatuer mountain bike team, Team High Maintenance, based in the Vail Valley. I also work full time at the Arrowhead Alpine Club as the Activities Manager.

My dad, William Hinkle, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease 8 years ago. He has been fighting this disease with courage and grace. My dad was the one who got me into riding bikes. I rode RAGBRAI, a 6 day bike ride across Iowa, with my dad in 96′ and 97′ and had a blast. He taught me how to sniff out the best pies at a bake sale, find the best church pasta dinners in town, and of course, the joys of street dancing in bike shoes.

In 2012 I asked Bryan Boyle if he was interested in running the Chicago Marathon — two weeks later he asked if I was interested in Ride the Rockies. I got a road bike, got on the tour, and have yet to regret it. This will be my second RTR.